Raj Congress' key tribal leader & four-time MLA Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya joins BJP

Jaipur, Feb 19 (IANS) Congress Working committee member and MLA from Bagidora in Rajasthan's Banswara district, Mahendrajit Singh Malviya joined the BJP on Monday after quitting from the grand old party.

The four-time MLA is a strong tribal face in the state. Soon after joining the party, he attacked the Congress and said, “When the Congress party refused to attend the Pran Patishtha ceremony in Ayodhya, I was hurt .”

Malviya praised the BJP and said, “If I want to develop my area, then there is no other party which can work in the tribal areas except the BJP. PM Modi's policies have impressed me," he added.

BJP state President C.P. Joshi accorded a warm welcome to him on the occasion.

Malviya resigned from the post of MLA after joining the BJP. He reached the BJP party office in Jaipur at around 2 p.m and took the membership of the party in the presence of senior leaders. Malviya demanded that Mangarh Dham be declared a national monument.

He was in Delhi for the last three days and on Sunday, he met Home Minister Amit Shah. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma had reportedly taken him to Shah.

Party sources said that Malviya was not happy in the Congress after he was not made the leader of opposition. He was not fielded as a Rajya Sabha candidate and instead veteran leader Sonia Gandhi filed her nomination papers for the seat.

Party state In-charge Arun Singh, co-in-charge Vijaya Rahatkar and veteran leaders, including Arun Chaturvedi, Rajendra Rathore were present during his joining.